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July 21, 2006 Section:
ZONE NORTH - FISHERS A.M. Edition: FINAL
EDITION Page:
R01
Students soak up
German culture Trip gave teens
insight into life overseas and a glimpse of
historic architecture LESLIE COLLINS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
As
quick as they could say "auf Wiedersehen" to the
school year in June, seven Hamilton Southeastern
High School juniors were off to Germany -- taking
in the architecture, letting the Alpine scenery
take their breath away and learning from their
host families.
Making the trip
even more exciting, the scenes of mass jubilation
at a World Cup soccer game.
"People here (in the United States) get
excited about sports, but they go to a whole other
level," said Michael Dunn, who made the trek to
Bavaria with fellow German students Ian Moore, Rob
Wiesler, Nikhil Patel, Kristen Thomas, Paul
Stanley and Kurt Kellogg.
Dunn missed watching any head-butting,
elbow gouging and groin-cleating on the playing
field, but he recalled a reveling fan fest in
Stuttgart, four hours before the game started.
"It was so different from anything here.
There were 4,000 people in the town square wearing
German colors," Dunn said. "The streets were
packed with fans. The Brazilian people were
loudest, going crazy, waving flags."
He stayed in Ulm with a host family for six
nights during the two-week tour with Intercultural
Student Experiences, headquartered in Eden
Prairie, Minn.
German teacher Robin Geisinger, who
chaperoned the trip, chose the Minnesota company
because Intercultural Student Experiences seemed
to put more emphasis on learning.
Students were required to be at least 16
years old, have studied the language at least two
years and offer letters of recommendation from
teachers and school counselors, as part of the
company's application process.
The students also attended sessions to
learn about German culture. Nikhil Patel recalled
being told to bring a pair of sandals to wear just
inside the home of his host family.
"German families have a house shoe," he
said. "They don't go barefoot around the house."
Everyone had to speak German during the
weeklong, host-home-stay portion of the program.
That proved a little tricky for Ian Moore,
who discovered his language shortfalls during a
brief tour of Ulm with his host father. As the man
explained where they were going, Moore thought
they were headed for a restaurant that served
fish.
"We ended up at an aquarium," he said,
laughing. He was cool at the scene, though, and
didn't fess up that he was surprised to be looking
at fish rather than eating them.
As for differences between Germans and
Americans, Moore didn't see many, except that the
guys over there wear capri-style pants -- those
that cut off somewhere just below the knee or just
above the ankle. However, Moore and the others
were surprised to see cigarette machines on
practically every street corner and people
unabashedly lighting up at will.
Dunn and Patel noticed a commonality among
the Germans they met: They weren't fond of the
American government.
Dunn said that while most Americans are
religious and some may be political, "in Germany
everyone talks about politics. They have some of
the most beautiful churches but aren't nearly as
religious.
"They have strong views about U.S. and U.S.
government," Dunn said, "and they aren't the most
positive."
Patel's host family didn't talk much
politics, but his host father said the United
States needs to "get a new president."
Patel also noticed that German teens
"weren't all about driving, like most kids here.
They have bikes and buses and trains and stuff.
Around here, we only have school buses."
Otherwise, Patel said, his German
counterparts are the same as any other teens,
hanging out, going to movies -- just doing it in a
different language.
For him, the camaraderie of the American
contingent meant a lot. About 45 students from
Indiana and Wisconsin were in the travel group. At
first, everyone cliqued into their own school
groups, he said, but a strawberry festival helped
to break the ice. Kristen Thomas, the only girl
from HSE to make this year's trip, found some
girls from the Wisconsin group to befriend.
From a four-hour bike tour of Munich to the
family stay in Ulm to the old architecture of
Oberammergau, the students were uniformly awed by
the age of structures, some that date back
centuries.
The history of Rothenburg ob der Tauber was
"cool," Dunn said, recalling that the city was
devastated during the Napoleonic Wars in the early
1800s. As a result, city leaders put out a
worldwide plea for financial aid for help in
rebuilding. The names of people and countries that
contributed are inscribed on a wall surrounding
the rebuilt city, Dunn said.
He was proud to see a brick bearing the
name of the United States.
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